Chapter One of the Return to Aden series

Chapter One
Fall of a Titan







“Damage to what?” yelled the Captain over the sounds of circuitry exploding all about him. This was a bad spot for him to be in now. His orders were to deposit the colonists to the planet and leave, but an unknown energy storm damaged the engines. The most he could hope for would be an emergency landing on some god forsaken planet.
“Damage to what, ensign,” yelled the commander as he walked to the station. “He’s dead, Captain,” came the solemn word from the commander. The mistake was understandable, thought the Captain, the main lights had left long ago.
Storms in space were ironically normal. In this case it was a matter of statistics as the storm in question would appear in the flight plan of the colonist ship. As the storm ripped through the engine’s gravity-well, it would cause the engine to do what the Chief Engineer called “a hiccup for machines.” Freighters don’t “hiccup,” or so the Captain would think. Another loud bang and a crew member flies across the main deck of the ship.
“What’s broken now, Commander?”
“Auto-Navigational Systems are down,” the commander said as a pilot took to the consoles.
The Captain couldn’t help but think that he should have called in for the day. He was currently pouring over internal sensor scans to conclude as to how many escape pods were left.
Home, or at least Earth as it was still called, had become over populated. Colonists now peppered the Galaxy, carving a home for humanity. This particular ship was full of religious colonists, tired of the geo-political drama rampant in other colonies and the corporate corruption of Earth. They left now, to hopefully colonize a planet free of such things. Something a colonist lovingly calls the “Search for Eden.”
The Captain found the diagnostics for the escape pods, only to find that the firing mechanism was severely damaged by the current explosions of circuitry. Normally a space storm doesn’t do so much damage to the ship, and this storm is no different. What was different in this case was the fact that the engine “hiccuped” and attempted to remove half of the ship with the convulsion.
People tend to take for granted the stability of the freighters. The massive size, thick hull plating, tactical weapons array, and advance life support has left a sense of power in the hands of those people. A sense of power now lost to the massively huge, and yawning chasm that was space now. If only there was a police shuttle, the Commander could only think. The police shuttle’s gravity engine alone would give them more than enough time to get help, but none would come as these were uncharted stars.
Yet despite how lifeless this situation could lead to, a toy flies across a room now loosing its artificial gravity control.
Rooms were abandoned, and main recreational facilities emptied. There was no sign of life throughout the whole ship. A nursery lay barren, floating in the depths of space as the final hull plating broke clean off. All that is left in the nursery to show human habitation is the letter clutched in the chief nurse’s hand reading, “I’m sorry, Daniel.” What now remained of Humanity on this vessel rested huddled in the main promenade and other open areas protected with the ship’s armor.
“Rooms One and Two collapsing,” said the Commander voice. Three hundred people just died in that split second, contemplated the Captain. Too many people were going for the captain to sleep peacefully. This was going to be a rough flight, despite the obvious reasons. Even if there were survivors, there need to be at least a few colonists to carry on the legacy of the people. If everyone dies, it won’t matter if they are able to land the bucket of bolts.
Consoles beep and chime randomly at all times, and it takes a rather astute mind to differentiate such sounds. It also helps when those sounds are localized to certain areas, and such a console was by the captain’s chair itself. He poured all over those consoles by his chair in hopes of finding any sort of planet, some civilized signatures that hinted at life to assist. It would be impossible before such things as of now. He poured over and over those screens.
“Commander, set the scanners to find gravitational radiation hinting at a planetary mass,” the captain spoke over explosions. This was his only chance, and it was with this chance that he could possibly find some manner in which he could save those lives. It was disappointing enough that he couldn’t save the already lost lives so long ago when this flight first hit the storm. In the remote chance of finding a planetoid, it would be his idea that he could crash land that ship on the planet, and save them all. Definitely one of those theories best on paper than in application, thought the captain.
Death seemed all too close to this ship now, and the captain was painfully aware of this. He desperately searched for some sort of hope, some sort of bastion of salvation for the crew, the colonists, all of them. He searched for any signs of life in this solar system, even if it was on an asteroid, anything. He would not allow destruction to fall upon this ship that he had served on for over a whole decade. The ship may not survive, but damned if the people wouldn’t, the captain thought.
“Captain, I’ve got something,” came a voice, an angel’s voice from behind the captain. Turning so quickly as to almost give the captain whip-lash he searched for that voice. A woman that headed communications for the ship had found a planet. A planet sent by god, or whatever powers in existence.
“Where is it,” came the captain’s voice all calm, but obviously hinting at concern and anxiety. This was it, this was the hope he had for the crew, the hope he had for everyone, and even those who were lost to the harsh reality of open space.
“We’re coming up on it fast,” she said.
“How do you know,” came the captain’s voice over another crash. He walked over to her station to figure this mystery out.
“I’m the communications station, captain,” she said matter of factly, “We have radio waves here, I used it as a sort of radar. All masses in space emit radio waves, I was just looking for one big enough for a planet.” She smiled and swiveled back to her station.
“Scan that planet for life, of any kind,” demanded the captain.
“I’m on it, sir,” came the commander’s voice.
A steady mind was needed to make sure the captain, commander, and anyone else in the planet search would find their last place of salvation. The captain knew that he would have to concentrate and remain calm. Easier said than done.
Calmness had left the ship as soon as they had entered this system, but at least a sense of calm had come over the children. The calm had become melancholy as the adults began to tell the children they may see God, and other such promises. Worry left the adults long ago since they had no intentions of survival. They had placed those children that died from burns and other such disasters on the outskirts of the giant room. The living stayed at the center, as if to form a shell of life to stave off the onslaught of death creeping so ominously upon them.
“We’ve found a planet, be prepared for the worst,” came the captain’s words over mostly static and crashing sounds in the distance. To the children the words of the adults had changed from a sense of peace to a frantic search. They seemed agitated by some unknown assailant, but this brought a smile to their faces. They just didn’t understand, but if the adults were smiling, surely they should as well.
Damage had reached the communications center long ago. It was ironic to the captain that he could send even one distress signal to Earth for help because the engine decided to say good bye to the ship. If he survived this, he was certainly going to recommend a form of seatbelt for the engine. They had put seat belts on the chairs in the ships long ago. These sort of thoughts entertained him while his real mind brooded over certain doom. There were only three events where this took place. One was with his final exam to become a pilot, one was when he asked his wife to marry him, and the last was when he had decide if he was going to let his son die from an unknown cancer in his brain.
Turning from depression, the captain turned towards the commander and instructed him to prepare for emergency landing. He was going to land this damn ship, and there was no trying allowed at all. He got back into the captain’s chair, or at least what was left of it, and began to perform the preliminary sensor sweeps for a landing spot. What the sensors could read, he concluded that it was a tropical sort of planet with few regions of dessert. A beautiful planet indeed, a great place to settle down and live, and the captain was already determined to get there.
Chance said that the captain had a one in a million chance to land a falling wreckage onto this rock, but he was optimistic. His crew was incredible and well prepared for emergencies. Welcoming the idea of watching the landing, he ordered the main screen to be turned on so he could watch where he crashed this bucket. As the screen flickered on with a bit of a stutter he beheld that green planet. Beautiful and welcoming, teeming with life, and ripe for colonization.
There are those rare times when men are weak, in this case when the captain cried at the sight of that planet, he was happy to be alive. Whether that was weakness or a form of strength, it really didn’t matter now. Turning towards to the communications center he ordered her to keep trying to reach Earth. Normally hopeless at this time, but there was still the communications array intact. He would reach someone, if not a peaceful alien race.
Atmospheric flight is every starships worst choice of flight, and when your ship wants to explode, it kind of puts a damper on the fun for everyone. The captain waited impatiently as they began their final approach towards the planet. They had to time this just right, or the explosions in the ship would be the last things to worry about. Waiting for the atmosphere was like waiting for an eternity, but it finally came. Even though there was no physical contact, it still felt like a strong punch in the gut. Descending in what seemed like control chaos, the ship plummeted in what seemed like a purpose. Their approach had been right, they wouldn’t burn.
Monitoring the flight, the captain could see that the ship was running a little hot, and normally that wouldn’t worry him too much. Given the circumstance, little heating was definitely something to worry about. He set up several safety precautions to safe guard against the passengers burning alive, seeing as how they were slightly exposed to the elements. The force fields would be the protection necessary to keep them all alive.
Warning the crew of incoming doom seemed rather cliché right about now, but that wouldn’t stop the idea from floating around in the captain’s head. After all, landing this piece of junk wasn’t exactly a hundred percent, even when fully intact. He watched patiently for when the cloud cover was clear. Keep the ship level, angle the atmosphere thrusters into a controlled fall, and pray to a god that this is not the end of his career.
“Attention all staff and passengers,” came the captain’s voice again, “prepare for impact. If you’ve got any last words, now would be the time to say them.” That should hold them for the time being, thought the captain. He really wasn’t much of a man of speeches, or good byes. Only when the situation really called for it would he have any worry about such things.
The cloud cover finally broke and the captain’s breath wasn’t taken but ripped out. If this wasn’t possibly his future tomb, this would have to be the most glorious and luxurious place in all the solar systems. Too bad this wasn’t on any star charts, or he would recommend this to other captains. Except for, perhaps, the crash landing part.
During all of this chaos that now racked the ship, there were only a few things that would remain normal. There would still be rooms holding people optimistic, and the colonists tucked away within the inner compartments of the ship felt a sort of security in clutching each other. Children were already getting ready to become young colonists by becoming intelligently creative in their constructs.
Clearing vast areas, the children began to huddle together underneath everything. Tables were now mini houses, chairs served as doors, and most importantly blankets were excellent shudders on those windows. They only had each other as the adults were running in and out of the room to take care of whatever it was that adults took care of. They watched behind tightly clutched blankets and fearful tears. They didn’t understand why the house they made was shaking, but it seemed like the whole world would rip apart.
One child asked for some food, only to be turned down. The other children knew food would not be found until they landed. They would wait, hopefully not forever, but they would wait. These children prided themselves on being good kids, but they began to wonder if that mattered now. All they knew was they had only themselves, and they would not forget they needed themselves. The children began to make oaths of friendship. Saying that when they die they would look for each other in the afterlife so they could go to heaven together. This troubled the other kids greatly. The bigger kids explained when they die they would be allowed to see mommy and daddy again.
Luck had finally worn out for the entire crew, especially the colonists. A rumble was heard above the children, and as they look up they saw what seemed to be a tear in the ceiling. As they continued to watch, the adults kept telling them to stay away from the area and move more towards the edge, the tombs. Suddenly the top of the ceiling ripped off and they watched as two children who lagged behind crying were dragged off into the sky by back draft. Then a green haze covered the area, and the children knew they were safe again. This didn’t calm the children one bit as the saw the clouds move by fast enough to know they might not survive this flight.
The captain listened as he heard two children were sucked out of the ship. A terrible blood sacrifice for such a thing as this. The ship shuttered, and he watched as the view screen winked out and ripped apart from the ship. He watched as the pressurization in the main deck drop and a person get pulled out, but the safety force field kicked in. Saving the rest of crew that terrible fate.
Survival seemed so remote, people dying every five seconds it seemed like, but this would not be the end. He would see it to the end, and no more people were going to die. He turned to the rest of the crew who were now watching the real planet approach quickly to them. They knew that upon impact they were going to be the first to die. The main deck was no longer protected by think hull plating. A green haze and space separated the ship from certain doom. Another explosion off in the distance, another muffled scream, and the captain had lost another able hand. Despite all this, the captain still retained hope. This was not going to be the place he said his last good bye. He would survive this, he would reach Earth, and he will see his wife and daughter once more. This will not be the end to his story, and he would not allow this to be the final chapter to the lives of the colonists.
“Brace for impact,” came the captain’s voice full of confidence and power, “and see you all when we get there.”